This invention relates to a process for preparing a dried food product and to a dried food product prepared by the process.
Dried meat snacks such as biltong (sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9cjerkyxe2x80x9d) and dried boerewors (dried sausage) are were known and very popular food products in South Africa. Biltong is produced by curing and drying slabs of beef or game meat. The curing process usually involves treating the meat slabs with vinegar, salt and a variety of herbs and spices while the drying process entails hanging the cured meat in a warm dry place for a number of days. Once cured and dried the biltong is either sold in the form of a slab, with the purchase slicing strips of the meat off himself, or is presliced. Biltong is generally fairly lean in composition, having a low fat content. The problem with biltong is that it is often tough to slice and to eat.
Dried boerewors on the other hand is formed by drying out sausage meat known in South African as boerewors. This is formed by stuffing minced meat into sausage casings and allowing this minced meat to dry. The dried boerewors can be flavoured with a variety of herbs or spices, and is available in stick form.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process of producing a new dried food product, in particular a new dried meat product.
According to the invention there is provided a process for producing a dried food product, the process including dicing and mincing a food type, feeding the food type into a sausage casing, freezing the encased food type in the casing, cutting the frozen food type into slices and drying the slices.
Typically, the encased food type is frozen to a core temperature between xe2x88x925xc2x0 C. and xe2x88x9210xc2x0 C., preferably xe2x88x928xc2x0 C.
The casing in which the minced food product is housed is typically made from a plastics material, preferably PVC.
Preferably, the casing is removed from the frozen food type prior to cutting.
The frozen food type is preferably cut into slices having a thickness from 1 mm to 2 mm, preferably a thickness of 1,5 mm.
The slices are typically air dried under controlled conditions with an air temperature of between 35xc2x0 C. and 50xc2x0 C., preferably 45xc2x0 C., and an air humidity of between 15% and 20%, preferably 18%.
Alternatively, the slices are air dried with the air at a temperature between 70xc2x0 C. and 90xc2x0 C., preferably 80xc2x0 C., for 10 to 20 minutes and then air dried at a lower air temperature of between 35xc2x0 C. and 50xc2x0 C., preferably 45xc2x0 C.
Advantageously, the humidity of the air is between 15% and 20%, preferably 18%.
The food type may be vegetable, fruit or meat or a combination of these food types. Typically, the food type is meat.
This invention extends to a food snack comprising light, crispy wafers of dried minced food, typically dried minced meat.
A pictorial view of food snacks according to the invention.
This embodiment of the invention is directed to a dried meat product. However other food types, such as vegetables and fruit or mixtures of meat, fruit and/or vegetables fall within the scope of the invention.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a process for producing a dried meat product includes obtaining lean beef, dicing the beef and mixing the diced meat with flavouring agents such as herbs and spices and preservatives. The mixture of diced meat and herbs and spices is minced and fed into PVC sausage casings under vacuum so that the meat mixture is packed firmly in the casing. A conventional vacuum sausage filling machine may be used for this purpose. Any type of tubular sausage casing can be used and the diameter of the casing will depend on the size of the snack that is required. Generally, a casing with a 50 mm internal diameter is used. The firmly packed encased meat mixture is then frozen at temperatures of between xe2x88x925xc2x0 C. and xe2x88x9210xc2x0 C. Thereafter the casing is removed from the frozen meat mixture and the frozen meat mixture is cut into slices of less than 2 mm in thickness. Advantageously, the slices are cut to a thickness of about 1,5 mm in thickness. These slices are then dried to form a curled wafer (as shown in the drawing), that has a light crispy texture. If the slices are cut to a thickness of greater than 2 mm, the dried product has an undesirable xe2x80x9cchewyxe2x80x9d texture.
The slices are typically air dried under controlled conditions with an air temperature between 35xc2x0 C. and 50xc2x0 C., preferably 45xc2x0 C., and an air humidity of between 15% and 20%, preferably 18%. The slices can be dried on racks or conveyors or tumble dried. Using this method, the drying process takes approximately 8 hours. In accordance with a preferred second drying method, the slices are dried in under 2 hours. The slices are first subjected to an air temperature of 80xc2x0 C. for ten to twenty minutes and then the temperature is reduced to 45xc2x0 C. until the slices have properly dried, i.e. until they have formed curled wafers that have a light crispy texture. During this drying process it is important to keep the humidity above 15%, preferably at 18%, to stop the slices from burning under the high temperatures.